Pastor's Corner ~ "An Undivided Heart for the Lord"

"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

What do these words of Jesus in the Gospel this weekend mean? Jesus doesn’t mince words in stating the primordial importance of our relationship with God over our valued human relationships, fears and even over our very own lives. Our faithfulness and loyalty to him comes first before anything else. The thing is, authentic love and devotion to God will eventually bring about solid, healthy and well-put human relationships. But since we don’t live in a perfect world, there are times when even those who are very close to us could impede our spiritual growth. Pardon me if I repeat this story again. I remember several years ago in a different parish, a young lady was kicked out of her home when her
parents learned that she was in the RCIA program. She was homeless for several weeks. She was so torn between choosing her newly found faith or her family. She stood her ground and was received into the Catholic faith that Easter. Her parents “disowned” her for months, but eventually they had a change of heart and even decided to go through RCIA themselves. Her parents were eventually received into the Catholic faith the following year. This shows us that when our faithfulness to God takes precedence, he will make sure that our other cherished relationships will be “reordered” because he is a God who delights in our happiness and joy. Is there an important and valued relationship in my life right now that undermines my relationship with God? Do I value those human relationships more than my relationship with God?

Aside from our cherished relationships, our fear of the cross could also get in the way of our spiritual growth. Jesus’ glory is marked with crosses beyond human imagination, yet he remained faithful to the will of the Father. He carried those “crosses” with humility, joy and hope, knowing that God’s glory and resurrection would have the final word in the end. Resurrection would not be possible without the Passion of the Cross. Do your crosses bring you to a deeper connection with the Lord, or do they discourage you to trust and hope in God’s providential love?

I’ve asked this question before, but it is worth asking again: Why does God demand so much of us. Imagine, he demands that we give up our families, even our lives, for him. Why does he ask so much of us? One spiritual giant, Meister Eckhart, put it this way very clearly: “It is not due to God’s justice or his severity that he demands so much of us;
rather ,it come from his great bounty, for he wants the soul to be capacious so as to hold the great blessings he is ready to bestow.” – Fr. Cary